VATICAN CITY (RNS) – Pope Leo XIV appointed Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations, the new papal nuncio to the United States, the Vatican announced Saturday (March 7). He will replace Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who occupied the role for the past decade at a moment of polarization within the Catholic Church.
“This is an extremely heavy and important appointment because right now you really don’t know what will happen in the United States,” said Massimo Faggioli, who teaches ecclesiology at the Loyola Institute at Trinity College in Dublin. “Having a trusted man there is particularly important.”
With his tenure at the U.N.’s New York headquarters, Caccia brings six years of experience living in the U.S., and as importantly, a keen understanding of the workings of multilateral organizations like the U.N., which have been increasingly shunned by the Trump administration.
Caccia has been among a small cohort of Vatican diplomats who have been shaping the Holy See’s position in the global chessboard for decades. “Sending to Washington someone who co …